and welcome to the site!

Welcome to the site!

I'll second what Lake said. A good place to look is for "natural" or "organic". Not because those are better, but they're more likely to not be high fructose corn sugar and caramel color.

agreed, for the beer, stick with the lower grade stuff. it will impart more flavor and actually cost a bit less. both beneficial qualities in brewing.

Where the heck is the guy who makes gallons of maple syrup from the trees on his property when you need him? @frydogbrews should surely be the authority in this arena!!

hello.
you can use grade A syrup, just not grade A " extra light amber". and unless you are in a big time syrup making region, you won't find grade A extra light amber anyway.

any other grade will work just fine with the most flavor coming out of grade A "Dark amber". Grade B is the darkest grade, but the flavors tend to be a little muddled and don't pull through the fermenting process very cleanly.

here is the break down on grades:
Color and clarity depend upon the weather, the cleanliness of the tools, the regularity of gathering, and the manner of boiling and straining. As for the flavor, it depends on imponderable qualities: the tree itself, the location, the soil, etc.
These factors are important in determining the commercial value of maple syrup but are not essential to the identity of maple syrup as such. Maple sap, and nothing else, as the raw material of its making, is the essential ingredient.

Extra Light: Produced at the very beginning of the season, very pale color and delicate taste. Light transmittance over 75%.

Light: Produced at the beginning of the season in mid-March. Pale amber in color with a pure, subtle flavor. Light transmittance 61-74%.

Medium: Produced in the middle of the season this is the most popular grade available. A rich amber color and more pronounced flavor. Light transmittance 44-60%.) p>

Amber: Produced near the end of the season, it contains a higher mineral content, stronger maple taste and dark color. Recommended for cooking or those who prefer a stronger taste. Light transmittance 27-43%.

Dark: Produced at the very end of the season, it has the highest mineral content. This is very dark, full flavored syrup often used as an ingredient in cereals and baked goods. Light transmittance 0-26%.

As far as preservatives, most real maple syrup bottlers don't use them anyway. there is zero need for it. same with honey. the level of sugar is so damn high, that it is already totally shelf stable until the end of freaking time. so, if it says it is pure maple syrup and has other stuff in it, suspicions should be on high alert.

good luck, let us know how it turns out.
(also, maple syrup beers tend to need a fairly long aging because the syrup gives off hot alcohol notes at first.)

The flavor will certainly depend on the quantity and timing of use I would think. Also the style of base beer you use. A lighter beer will let the flavor of syrup come out more. You could also use multiple times too, late boil, late ferment and for priming. As you taste, if you don't get what you are looking for, add more. Just know it will increase in ABV every time you add it.

@redman
instead of syrup, you could hit it with brown sugar. that doesn't need as much aging time but will throw off a similar flavor because of the unfermentables hiding inside it. it will create a sweeter brew though.

you could make a bacon beer. its not very hard. you would need to do a fat-washing to make an infusion, but that's easy.

for a 5 gallon batch, scoop out 2 teaspoons of bacon fat(warm so its liquid) and put it into 1 cup of decent vodka. shake the hell out of it (or hit it with an immersion blender) to start the infusion. then let it sit for 12-24 hours at room temp or a little higher. after that, toss it into the freezer until the fats solidify and run it through a coffee filter to get them all out. then dump into a secondary or whatever your method is, just don't ferment the infusion. it will add big time bacon flavor to your brew.